Fresh & local eats!

As most of you know I'm a huge fan of eating local! If it was possible, I would make my little bakeshop 100 mile approved.......sadly artificial vanilla just isn't the same. But you should know for the most part our cupcakes are truly Canadian. Eveything is grown, processed and packaged in Canada.....except the vanilla!

Anywhoooo back to eating local. The best place to get your local eats is at the Red Deer Public Market. You can virtually find anything there! It runs May long weekend to Thanksgiving long weekend. I wish it was year round....but it would be a little chilly. I think my favourite part about this market is that it IS outdoors. Sometimes mother nature doesn't co-operate and I come home with dozens of cupcakes, but I won't hold that against her. Its a massive market, like I said you can get anything there. So I thought I'd share some of my favourite booths to stop at!

I always start my market morning off with Yolanda Infante's Concession for my bfast samich! I used to get bacon(cause bacons amazing), but have recently switched to tomato...when its available ;0) Yolanda's sammies are super yummy and not greasy! AND the sweetest people work there, always wearing a smile!

Pik-n-Pak is based out of Lacombe and they supply to local grocers as well as set up at markets around Central AB. They are the best place to pick up your produce. They have the best long english cucumbers I have ever had, and a huge variety of tomatoes among other things. I personally race to their stand and grab all I can out of the $5 bin, you can get a huge bag of peppers for five smackers! Steal of a DEAL!

Innisfail Growers is made up of 5 family farms that sell their home grown produce throughout Central AB markets. They have a huge selection to choose from every Saturday, Becks carrots(most delicious carrots you'll ever eat) herbs, root veggies, tomatoes, onions, preserves, flowers......

And my personal favourite berries from the Jungle Farm! Strawberry season is just about over but the raspberries are in. Which means there will be some local raspberries in our Raspberry Lemonade cupcakes!

This lady was too cute not to take a picture of....and the only one willing.

If you love bread like I do, then you need to check out The Black Forest Bakery, based out of Olds, AB. They have artisan breads, pretzels, baked goods, etc. They also have a cute little eatery in Olds that serves lunch. Check out their Facebook page for the weekly menu!

Ps. these two lovely people are so sweet, they gave me some business tips last year and I have never forgot it!

Last on grocery list in Humble Hummus.....although you might not want to go there last. As you can see this hummus is kind of a big deal. It's local & fresh with eco-friendly packaging and sure to tickle your taste buds. Creator Jason offers up weekly features like Black Bean & Cilantro among others.......some of the best hummus I've ever had!

Central Music Festival! Runs August 12-14th and is jam packed with Canadian musicians. Usually they have a musician performing at their booth, unfortunately this past Saturday they didn't. Charlee and I happen to be set up right beside them so we sang for the crowds.......very quietly.... so nobody would get jealous of our amazing voices. That's believable right?

When I'm not buying up all the local eats I usually swing buy the BuyGones Antiques & Collectables set up. They have quite a selection, I've purchased a number of things from them over the years. Although I'm not much of a "Canadian Picker", I have to say they have the biggest selection of Fire King products that I have found in

Red Deer!

LAST but certainly not LEAST....Cuppitycakes Bakeshop! The weather made me a little nervous this Saturday but it turned out to be gorgeous. I even have the sunburn to prove it! This past week I brought along some new treats from the bakeshop, Blueberry Scones and Dutch Almond Cake. In the future I'll be bringing various sweet treats along with our infamous cupcakes! Check out the Facebook page for more updates. We'll be back at the market August 20th, be sure to swing by!

xxoo ST